The only things we can expect to remain the same are taxes and death!!! Everything else WILL change. And oh how hard we try to keep everything just so, to be packed into mental compartments or physical boxes. We FIGHT change All The Way and yet change usually happens in an instant. One moment you are trying to become pregnant and the instant your first morning wee hits the pregnancy test and the double line shows - things change. You arrive at work looking for calm and order after the morning battle of getting the kids ready and out the door on time. You walk into the Thursday morning meeting and in an instant you've been promoted to manager and your world shifts. Your phone rings and in that instant when your doctor confirms that your child has type 1 diabetes you're dealing with change. Change provides us with opportunities to learn, grow and reach our potential. An unplanned pregnancy might not feel or look like a growth point but the decision you make as a result will be different to if you weren't. A promotion will have you striving as you learn new skills to inspire, motivate and deal with people and hold them accountable as you are held accountable. If you have enough time to be worried then you have time to think of solutions. Nevertheless, stress, positive or negative can be overwelming. How we handle our beahviours in a stressful situation is the crux of the matter. How do you know you're under too much stress? You unconsciously hold your breath and breathe shallowly. When your breathing is shallow then adrenaline is released, your blood sugar levels rise, your major muscle groups tense up and you sweat more. Long term stress shows up as neck ache, back ache or head aches. A rash or tiredness or a sick feeling in your stomach are all signs of stress. And still you keep on going... Share with a Friend Forward to Your Bestie Emotionally your stress can show up as - * worry - * moodiness - * irratability - * lack of concentration - * bad dreams Your behaviour also changes under stress - * poor eating choices - - > fast, processed foods, sugary foods - * overeating - * more clumsy - * forgetful - * depressed - * anxious You can either hear the signals or ignore them. BUT the symptoms of your stress won't go away! They'll get louder until we do someting or our body breaks down. What can we do? Having the support of a friend or professional to help you work a plan with reasonable and realistic goals is a good idea. Taking care of yourself is what you need to do to reduce your stress. Two years ago if you had said to me that walking daily would help to reduce my stress I would have had serious objections! I thought I didn't have the time. I didn't want to have to go and exercise when I had so little time to myself. Yet for the past 7 months I have been out walking for 20 - 25 minutes at least 4 mornings out of 7. I feel better for it. I feel stronger. I feel like I am accomplishing something for myself. I am a role model to my boys that exercise is important. AND as a result I have More energy, my cholesterol levels are lower and my husband reckons my butt looks sexy!!! So the first way to reduce stress is to move your body. Two - SLEEP. It is not in our culture to nap or rest. That's only for babies and toddlers and the older person. But without enough rest and sleep your body doesn't have the time to heal and restore itself. Aim for 7 - 9 hours per night. There is sense in a routine and set bedtime for yourself each night. Mind is 9.30pm Keep a Journal - get it out of your head and onto paper. Write about what you're grateful for. Write about your hopes, your dreams, your fears. * Learn to breathe deeply. Say NO more often. Being busy is not only exhausting but it is not a sign that you've been productive.... * Spend more time with friends and family who lift you up. * Take a break from social media. If going without for a whole 24 hours seems too much, try switching off your phone at a set time each day or making a decision to only look at your social media between certain hours. Maybe 8am - 7pm? * Think about solutions not problems. Ask yourself what are 5 options to get over the problem. * Plans don't always go accordingly - know this and go wit the flow. * Reduce your driving speed by 10km/hour - genuine!!! * Make lists and feel more organised. Start with just one or two of these techniques
and notice how you begin to feel. Healing your body is 4-pronged -
Before I filled in the kitchen calendar on Sunday evening, my life seemed pretty quiet and under control. BUT after filling in extra murals, PTA, Parent/Teacher meetings, birthday parties (my little one is turning 3! and his friends are all having parties) and a couple of socials for me (thank goodness for Moms Night Out!!!) and for us as a family, my life is hectic. So more than ever I need to remember my words - "Calm" and "Deserving". Want to know what I'm talking about? Did you miss this email about My Words? - Click here to read about it I have started repeating this sentence that I found in a book by Louise Hay when I find that I am feeling anxious - "I calm my thoughts and I am serene." I just keep repeating it over and over while I drive or go for my walk or making sandwiches for the boys. And now, – Why It’s Important Not to Skip Breakfast Even When You're Madly Busy! Picture it... The alarm goes off and you are spinning your wheels preparing for a busy day ahead. It doesn't matter whether * you have children to get ready for school, or * papers to read for a morning meeting, by the time you’ve watched the news or caught up on social media, brushed your teeth and put your war paint on and got your car keys ready to go, you are already exhausted – sound familiar? It’s no wonder so many of us end up skipping breakfast and just grab a coffee which we drink in the car on the way to school or work or did you down it, luke warm in the kitchen before you headed out the door because you didn't get round to drinking it hot because you were reffing an argument between your kids?!!! But there are many reasons why this habit is bad for our health, Breakfast Provides Many Benefits to Our Health and Wellbeing If you think about it properly, when you wake up in the morning, your body has had no fuel since your evening meal the night before – potentially 12 hours beforehand – so your body is in starvation. Think about the words – “break” “fast” – literally this is THE meal which breaks the fast you have been on while sleeping. You need the energy to kick-start your system and get your body ready for the day ahead. You wouldn't head out on a road-trip with your car's fuel gauge sitting on empty, would you? So why do we do that to our bodies? Share with a Friend Forward to Your Bestie According to nutritionists, a healthy breakfast should give you around 30% of your daily calorie requirements. Breakfast provides us with energy, protein, calcium, iron, fibre and B vitamins which are all needed to get you through the day. If your body doesn’t receive these nutrients first thing, studies have shown your body is less effective at taking them on during the rest of the day. How Eating Breakfast Helps You Lose Weight If you skip breakfast you are not providing your body with what it needs for energy and you will soon get hungry and are more likely to then reach for high sugar, high fat snacks, to compensate. People who skip breakfast tend to end up reaching for the snacks around 10am which doesn’t help if you are trying to lose weight. In terms of time, breakfast really needs to be eaten between 45 minutes and two hours of waking up. So even if you are one of those people who says, "I just can't eat first thing in the morning" You don't have to. Just eat within 2 hours. Can you do that? This timing gives you the chance to put the needed fuel into your body to make sure your metabolism is balanced throughout the day. It is also the premium time for your body to absorb any of the carbohydrates you consume, which helps balance out your insulin levels. All of these aspects mean breakfast really sets your body up for the day and can help curb those mid-morning sugar cravings. In a study it was revealed that people who not only ate breakfast, but made it their largest meal, lost almost 8 kgs over a three month period. The other people, who took part in the study, eating the same calories during the day but most of these for their evening meal, lost only around 3.5 kgs. This study was published in Obesity. Other Health Benefits Beyond Weight Loss
Breakfast brings a large number of health benefits, besides weight loss – providing more reasons why it really is important not to skip this particular meal. 1. Brain Function Studies have proven that children who eat breakfast do better at school because they are better able to concentrate and behave well. If it has this benefit for our children, then it will do the same for us, right?! Breakfast helps to restore the levels of glucose which help with our brain function. This helps to improve memory, concentration and mood and also lowers stress levels. Have you ever felt that feeling of anger that rises up through being hungry? Breakfast can help us avoid this. 2. Energy Supply Breakfast is the first supply of energy your body receives when you wake up, making it part of your daily required calorie intake. A good nutritious breakfast will give you all the energy you need to take you through to lunchtime, and should be around 300 calories as a general rule. If you think about the energy you burn, you need the most in the morning and you need the least in the evening, when you are more likely to be siting on the sofa relaxing. Make breakfast your energy priority. 3. Diabetes In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a published study revealed that not eating breakfast could actually increase the risk of diabetes for women. The study showed that women who ate breakfast between none and six times a week, were at far higher risk of developing the disease than those who ate it daily. |
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